bathroom availability

Finding bathrooms can be a challenge in Europe. The bathrooms on the buses are really for emergency use. Tour buses stop every couple of hours so you should be OK. I do reduce my coffee consumption. On board trains, restroom are always available -- generally every two or three cars.

When you are on the RS tour, there are not the same challenges when you are on your own because the guide points out the options; however the bus restroom is only for emergencies. The bus will stop every 1 1/2-2 hours and every place you visit on the tour you will have restroom opportunities pointed out within that time frame. They know all the locations to give you the opportunity.

You can always use bar/cafe restrooms for the price of a drink.

A good travel tool is the free global Flush app. It uses your device's GPS to find public restrooms nearby. It came in really handy, for example, when we were in London awaiting the Changing of the Guard (did you know there's a public restroom in a monument right behind you as you face the courtyard? We didn't, and wouldn't have found it visually from where we stood.) The app also tells you whether it requires payment, a key, is wheelchair accessible, etc.

On RS tours, where many/most tour members are retired, I take comfort in knowing that most of them have the same interest in restroom availability as I do.

I'm posting a link below to a similar discussion I chimed in on a little while ago.

Although most people say the bus restrooms are only for 'emergencies', I would use different wording. The facilities on the RS bus are there for your comfort and should be used if one is truly uncomfortable. Having issues with bathroom availability is a real thing and if it is going to keep someone from traveling, I am in the camp of just go ahead and use the bus toilet if you need it. A gentleman on our RS bus used the bathroom because he simply really couldn't wait without being in pain. The world kept spinning and the bus driver was not mad. It happens.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/restrooms-in-busses

I'll just add that you have to be a little careful with fluid intake before getting on the bus. If you've had a few cups of coffee or tea, plus juice and water, it may not be easy to hold it for 2+ hours. Just know yourself and use some common sense in this regard. I stupidly drank a quart of Gatorade before getting on a tour bus a few years ago and barely made it to the next rest stop. Lesson learned.

Going #2 on a bus could make things unpleasant for everyone else.

Words of wisdom: Never pass up the chance to use a restroom.

"Going #2 on a bus could make things unpleasant for everyone else."

My 21 day Best of Europe guide explained this is one of the issues. The bus does not get to a dump station until it returns to its base at the end of the tour. That means all the output is held in the tank from Day 3 where you get on the bus to leave Haarlem to Day 19 when the bus drops you near your hotel in Paris.

There are no train segments on this tour...well except perhaps on your free day in the Berner Oberland on the cog train up to Wengen and back from Kleine Scheidegg but there are toilets at Kleine Scheidegg and in Lauterbrunnen.